Active Research, 21st Century Skills and Web 2.0 are the foundation of our projects. Although using technology is essential for the projects and it engages students, many activities will not need technology. Authenticity, creativity, collaboration, and other skills are also essential for successful projects. What connections can you make with the topics below?

Active Research

Students who are active researchers are meaning makers. They are self-motivated inquirers, investigators, and seekers of knowledge. (from Teaching Middle School Students to be Active Researchers by Judith Zorfass)

21st Century Skills
According to Tony Wagner, the seven survival skills are critical thinking and problem solving; collaborations across networks and leading by influence; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurship; effective oral and written communication; accessing and analyzing information; and curiosity and imagination.
Learn about Partnership for 21st Century Skills by visiting this site.

Web 2.0
"Web 2.0" refers to web development and web design that facilitates interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
In Google Search, "define: Web 2.0" gave some interesting definitions.
Web 2.0 Tools mentioned:
  • Wikispaces
  • Voki
  • VoiceThread
  • Wikipedia
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • RSS aggregators: Bloglines, Google Reader, client email programs
  • Bubbl.us
The Global Achievement Gap Gallery Walk Responses (from August 31):